


It Started With A Cough

by HiddenSt0rms



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Coughing, Fever, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Sokka, Sickfic, Sneezing, cough, sick, sneeze, sneezefic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 13:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenSt0rms/pseuds/HiddenSt0rms
Summary: "You know what I love about Appa the most? His sense of humor.""That's nice. I'll tell him."We remember that conversation, now we get to see what happened beforehand.





	It Started With A Cough

It started with a cough. Katara turned around from her position on top of Appa to find her brother not covering his mouth, though she wasn’t surprised. She shot him a dirty look and scowled. “Could you please cover your mouth?”

Sokka gave her an annoyed look back. “Calm down. It’s not that big of a deal.” His voice cracked painfully at the end, leaving him no choice but to go into another coughing fit.

Katara rolled her eyes. “As if that’s not how disease spreads.” She swore he didn’t cover that time just to mess with her, but decided not to perpetuate a fight. Everyone was worn down and ready to find a place to camp for the night. Even Appa was dragging along.

It wasn’t long before the darkness of evening set in. The heat must’ve cooled down too, given that Sokka felt a shiver run down his spine. He silently hoped that they’d land soon, feeling exhaustion from the previous day setting in.

“ _He-Chhhh!_ ” Sokka snapped forward into his hands and groaned a bit. “Ugh, gross.”

“Bless you!” Aang called from the front of Appa.

Katara turned around, not to argue about sneezing into his hands, which she was obviously unhappy about, but with concern. “You’re not getting sick, are you?”

Sokka looked like that was the most foreign idea he’d ever heard. “Of course not.”

“I don’t know, you _were_ in that storm for a while,” Katara started, and received a nod of agreement from Aang. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”

“You know I don’t ever get sick,” Sokka declared, but only received a look of disbelief from the two. “Seriously! I don’t!”

Not even a minute passed before Sokka was burying his face into his hands again. Not even sniffling would get this itch to go away.

“ _He-Chhhh!_ _Hu **tchhh** uh!_” He sniffled to avoid a runny nose, but that only irritated his throat even further. He tried clearing his throat to alleviate the pain, but he still winced when he swallowed.

“Let’s go ahead and camp there.” Katara suggested. The ruins would be the best form of shelter at the moment, and it’s not like anyone had any other ideas. Aang nodded in agreement and guided Appa back to Earth.

As they were settling in, Sokka went into another coughing fit. Only this time, it sounded much more chesty. Even though he still didn’t bother to cover, Katara gave him a concerned look, concern overriding any desire to scold him.

Sokka noticed this and needed a reason to leave. “I’m gonna look for some firewood.”

“Maybe that’s not such a good idea. If you are getting sick, it’s best you stay here.”

“Would you leave me alone? You overreact to everything.” Sokka argued with a thick sniffle, his cheeks tinging pink in frustration. His nose just wouldn’t quit trying to run.

“I’m just saying, we can’t take any risks out here. The weather is already bad enough.”

Katara wasn’t surprised when Sokka ignored her and left. She threw her arms up in frustration, wondering how he was technically the older one, the supposed more responsible one. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do at the moment, and Aang needed help with the tent anyway.

* * *

Sokka returned with a pile of wood in his arms, sweat rolling down his face and breath panting.

“I’ll take some if it’s heavy.” Aang offered innocently, but Sokka should his head.

“A little wood is not heavy.” He quickly dropped it on the ground.

Once the fire was started, the three gathered around and began to roast the food they brought with them. Aang and Katara chatted away in an attempt to clear their heads of the heavy previous day. Only Sokka kept quiet, preferring to use his energy to try to get as close to the fire as possible without burning himself.

Aang frowned when all his food was all gone. He looked around and saw that Sokka had hardly touched his, and he was staring off into space. He wouldn’t even know what happened.

Aang did an air bending trick that brought Sokka’s food over to him. He beamed, thinking he’d gotten away with it, until Katara spoke up. Aang pouted. She always seemed to know everything that happened.

“Aang.” She said in a slightly warning voice, though she couldn’t help but smile at the kid’s antics. There was never a dull moment with an air bending master.

“What? See, he doesn’t even care.” Aang gestured over to Sokka, who was just sitting there on the log.

“Wait, what?” Sokka drawled, out of his daze. “I’m not hungry anyway.” He tiredly rubbed at his nose. It had been itching really badly for a while, but he refused to give in. It’d only make it worse. He was feeling achy and his head was starting to –

“ _HSSCHH! **HUT** CHHUH!_” Sokka barely had time to turn away from Katara and Aang.

“Bless you,” Katara couldn’t help but place the back of her hand on her brother’s forehead. “Sokka, you feel warm.”

“Stop.” Sokka whined, pushing his sister’s hand away. He hadn’t even realized how much he was shivering. He knew the weather was cold, yet he felt wrapped in heat.

“I feel fine. _Goodnight_.” Sokka muttered, retreating to a spot on Appa’s side. Katara could be so annoying. Besides, all he needed was to get some sleep and he’d feel great come morning. At least, that’s what he told himself.

* * *

“… _okka_. Sokka, it’s time to get up.”

Sokka didn’t even need to open his eyes to know it was Katara, but not that he wanted to. He wanted to go right back to sleep once his body made itself known. He was sure at this point, even his bones ached.

“You never sleep this late. Aang made breakfast, if you’d like some.”

The mere thought of food was enough to flip Sokka’s stomach over. “I’m not…” He winced at the knives cutting his throat from the inside, and turned away from Katara to cough. “I’m not hungry.”

Katara was never one to listen to Sokka, or anyone for that matter. She felt his forehead, as if it wasn’t already obvious, and frowned. “Your fever went up. Way up.”

“D-don’t worry, I’ll be okay.” Sokka tried to push himself up, but his arms might as well have been made of rubber. If it hadn’t been for Katara, he would’ve hit his head on the way down.

“No, you need to rest. Stay right there,” Katara ordered and turned around. “Aang, we’re not doing any travelling today.”

Aang looked up sharply from his breakfast. “Why not?”

“Sokka’s really sick. Do we have any ginger root…”

That’s the last thing Sokka heard before succumbing to a delirious sleep. At an unknown time later, a pail of water was being held to his mouth and he was instructed to drink. That was all he remembered before slipping right back under.


End file.
